Hoping to prove to myself that I am a badass nonconformist, I read through all 76 entries to date at the Stuff White People Like blog and tallied up my score to see how many applied to me. I was as truthful in my answers as I could tolerate.
My white person score: 27 out of 76, which rounds up to 36% white.
*More technically, 36% whiter than the average white, since what that blog really describes is the kind of status whoring that upper middle class coastal city liberal whites like to pursue to separate themselves from the masses of unenlightened whites in flyover country.
I’m pleased with my score. It shows that I have just enough taste to enjoy the good life (green tea has anti-oxidants! NASCAR makes no sense to me!) but not so much self-righteous whiter person status posturing that I become the very thing I loathe (no, I really don’t give a shit about raising awareness!).
I’m so convinced that a lot of these things that whiter people like are merely grabs for status over other white people that I have an experiment in mind. According to this entry, white people love to go to ethnic restaurants (not including Italian) that are patronized by non-whites for the “authentic” experience, so they can tell their fellow whites about their new favorite foreign cuisine. This earns them major bragging rights. The more foreign-sounding the food, the better. Listen as they take great pains to pronounce the dish they had in its native tongue.
Now I like Ethiopian food, even though it gives me tremendous gas one hour after eating it. But I wouldn’t stop eating Ethiopian food if suddenly it was served in a bland cookie cutter suburban eatery and the waitresses were not real Ethiopians, like they are in the place I go to in Adams Morgan. I would continue to enjoy their delicious injera bread even if a hundred other white people were sitting around me eating the same thing, and that is because I go for the food itself.
So in my experiment I would take the most popular Ethiopian restaurant in a hip neighborhood in DC, one that the hippest white people rave about, and move it into a vacated McDonald’s restaurant in a 100% white suburban neighborhood, where I would then sell combo meals of authentic Ethiopian food at $4.99 a pop, with a big gulp honey wine and plastic utensils, served at the cash register by a non-Ethiopian, preferably a dour white hipster with a lip ring or a Chinese woman. If whiter people are truly going to exotic ethnic restaurants for the enjoyment of the food as they like to claim they are, then business should remain brisk in my new McEthiopian restaurant. If business slows to a trickle, then I know that the whiter people were only singing the praises of Ethiopian food when eating it had an “authentic” feel so as to score culinary gotcha points in the neverending struggle to reign supreme at the top of the elitist cultural heap.
Stuffwhitepeoplelike in a nutshell: Making fun of the tribalism of people who think they have risen above tribalism.
What, like Chipolte?
I hate to break it to you as a DC resident, but most of the good Asian food in the DC Metro area is housed in crappy strip malls or converted fast rood restaurants sprinkled throughout Fairfax County. Vietnamese? Korean? Chinese? (and maybe Japanese to boot)? Fairfax has it all, and it is far better than the overpriced crap in DC.
(I will stipulate to the excellent Ethopian food in Adams Morgan though).
The DC area is a bad example for your thought experiment though, since even these ethnic dives in the Fairfax wastelands contain a high proportion of exotic ethnic diners, so they neither confirm or refute your point.
I will say, that as a white dude who is prone to assessing a new ethnic restaurant by the number of ethnics within, that what it all boils down to is not the experience, but that the presence of the ethnics is a proxy for authentic and good food.
My bottom line: even the pretentious whites love the food on the merits, not necessarily the faux authenticity of the experience. However, i think the real aspect of the status whoring is the “multicultural palate” that they like to brag about to friends. It’s the bragging, not necessarily the eating….
LikeLike
7 out of 76
Your high score concerns me.
LikeLike
i beg to differ on the mcEthiopian food.
precisely BECAUSE i go to restaurants strictly for the food,** i would be chary about buying ethiopian food from a place devoid of actual ethiopians, because i would harbor doubts as to the authenticity of the cuisine. i would quite reasonably expect ethiopian food prepared by non-ethiopians to be subpar, for the same reason you’d (hopefully) rather buy adobo cooked by someone named ‘jose rizal manayan’ than adobo cooked by someone named, say, ‘marion cotillard’.
my favorite ethiopian restaurant is in a gritty industrial area, housed in a corner of an old commercial building, the other half of which is a body shop.*** and yes, the staff are real ethiopians. this place, methinks, is a better example than your mcEthiopian.
i don’t have the sisu to go through 76 items, but the mere fact that i don’t like to spend lots of money will knock more than half of the items from contention.
‘dour hipster’ is redundant, and ‘dour white hipster’ is almost doubly redundant.
nascar doesn’t make sense? here you go: they drive around in circles until someone completes a preordained # of circles, whereupon that someone is declared the winner. glad i could help!
**a trendy atmosphere is actually a big minus for me, because trendy = overpriced, and i’m a terrible miser.
***this statement + google = you can now figure out where i live.
LikeLike
“Stuffwhitepeoplelike in a nutshell: Making fun of the tribalism of people who think they have risen above tribalism.”
Well said.
LikeLike
i got 5.5, if pressed i would make it 5.
jonny 5, you are at least a 50 on the white people like scale.
AT LEAST
LikeLike
Do white people like tagless white t-shits and panties?
LikeLike
Your experiment probably wouldn’t work because most of the (white) people who enjoy patronizing “authentic” Ethiopian restaurants wouldn’t live anywhere close to the suburban ex-McDonald’s location.
LikeLike
Johnny five–marion cotillard can cook my adobo chicken every day of the week.
LikeLike
“what that blog really describes is the kind of status whoring that upper middle class coastal city liberal whites like to pursue to separate themselves from the masses of unenlightened whites in flyover country.”
Perfect way to summarize it.
I think their racial attitudes epitomize their status whoring. Lots of evolutionary psych was looked into the handicap principle, that people adopt attributes that hamper them in order to prove their status. So, liberals adopt useless beliefs in order to gain status over more practical people. Anyway, it is ALWAYS about status.
LikeLike
What is the name of the restaurant in Adams Morgan? Almaz (http://www.almazrestaurant.com/) on U Street is really good.
LikeLike
I thought the fun of it was to have everyone reach in and eat with their hands to from the piles of food on a large pancake-breadlike device that was also the food’s tray. Was I drinking so much that I wasn’t eating Ethiopian?
This was in Adams Morgan. There was alot of horseplay when everyone ate from the same tray – like festival seating at a Who Concert, but without all of the dead people.
To make it more like McDonalds- they should mess up the orders alot – maybe use their bare hands to fix it for you. Or was I drinking so much that it wasn’t McDonalds?
LikeLike
So, liberals adopt useless beliefs in order to gain status over more practical people. Anyway, it is ALWAYS about status.
ALWAYS? Are you sure? Often, it’s about more than that.
What do conservatives have to say about this?
Honestly, do you really think that the Iraq war, which has gone on for longer than either world war, was practical?
Look at the price of gold today, and the $1.50 dollar to Euro conversion, and get back to me about practicality.
LikeLike
Hope, are you talking about Conservatives or Neo-Conservatives?
NeoCons needed to invent a new term for a reason. Pat Buchanan was once seen as the epitomy of the Conservative Movement…he had to start a Magazine, The American Conservative, to point out how stupid and pointless the Bush Administration and their War has been.
You may hate Conservatives as well as NeoCons, but they are two very different animals.
LikeLike
What is the name of the restaurant in Adams Morgan?
meskerem.
and yes, miik, you’re right. half the fun is pulling apart the bread with your hands and scooping up the piles of food. therefore, my mcethiopian restaurant would only include plastic utensils for those paying customers who were not white enough to enjoy the full hands-only experience.
note: this is why ethiopian restaurants are a great place to take a date (after you have banged her of course). if she’s comfortable getting her hands into the slop, she’ll be open to all kinds of sexual deviancy.
LikeLike
What is the other 64%?
LikeLike
Great. There goes my post idea to see how many of her first 100 entries applied to me. Way to jump the gun.
Then again, I’m pretty sure my score would have been higher than 36%.
LikeLike
I’ve got to agree with Johnny 5. I think you’re making a bit of a logical jump that doesn’t hold water.
“I know that the whiter people were only singing the praises of Ethiopian food when eating it had an “authentic” feel so as to score culinary gotcha points in the neverending struggle to reign supreme at the top of the elitist cultural heap.”
Really? You don’t think people prefer authentic food because it’s just plain better? You’ve failed to show any sort of causation in the argument listed about.
LikeLike
Gawd, I don’t know how you can stand living in DC.
LikeLike
Hope, are you talking about Conservatives or Neo-Conservatives?
Neo-cons. Real conservatives are rare nowadays, and the few who are become vilified by the Republican party. Since most people are followers and tow the party line, it’s easier just to say conservatives.
You may hate Conservatives as well as NeoCons, but they are two very different animals.
I have many traditional conservative / libertarian leanings. This was a wing in the Republican party until the neocons shoved that aside. I agree with you that vast differences exist between cons and neo-cons.
The problem is that the dynamics have changed within both parties. Many self-described “liberals” have little knowledge that the neocon movement has taken over large elements of both the Democratic and Republican parties. I identify with neither party. Democrats nowadays are faux-liberals, as liberal as the neo-cons are conservative.
Most people have no real understanding of the issues or the gravity of the economic issues facing America today. That’s not necessarily their fault, but the lack of substantive education and media attention. All this talk about how liberals “feel good” and “preen for status” is silly misdirection. People who know the facts do not feel optimistic about the current situation at all. It’s more like a horror show.
LikeLike
The problem is that the dynamics have changed within both parties. Many self-described “liberals” have little knowledge that the neocon movement has taken over large elements of both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Right on.
All this talk about how liberals “feel good” and “preen for status” is silly misdirection. People who know the facts do not feel optimistic about the current situation at all.
You can absolutely preen for status AND be horrified. You preen for status amongst “your own”, you vilify the “other guys”.
LikeLike
Meh, this kind of snobbish elitism exists everywhere and we all fall victim to it. Is this shocking? No one is as evolved ot as accepting as they think.
I mean, please, would you date some girl with a Walmart polyester top and jacked teeth? Even if her body was a 10, you may fuck her, but I doubt you would bring her around your friends. She is low class.
For all our high minded opinions of ourselves, we are all judgmental assholes. You should hear the shit people say to me when they find out how young my parents are…
LikeLike
You can absolutely preen for status AND be horrified. You preen for status amongst “your own”, you vilify the “other guys”.
Or maybe I want things to change because you don’t want another economic meltdown like the Great Depression or the situation in Argentina in mid-1990s due to a huge national deficit? Maybe I couldn’t care less about “status,” but more about living well?
Maybe it’s because I’m different. I’ll never understand this seeking status, wearing designer clothing, expensive-is-better thing.
LikeLike
I like to read the entries to my 33-year-old omega male full-time student ex-hippie roommate from Westchester County, NY. I think his score is close to 75%, and it makes me giggle. We have so many different recycling containers!
LikeLike
MY COMMENT IS AWAITING MODERATION?
LikeLike
Maybe it’s because I’m different. I’ll never understand this seeking status, wearing designer clothing, expensive-is-better thing.
Status, for WhiterPeople, rarely has to do with the cost of the thing.
For them, the whole-in-the-wall authentic Cambodian restaurant that has never seen a White face until Lisa (the status seeking individual) showed up is the best place around.
For them, they have never had a good bagel outside of the Jewish bakeries in NYC. The village they visited in Portugal was the best until all the tourists found it. And so on.
These are all things that help them to feel superior.
LikeLike
Rina, I am curious, does he know that you think of him as an “Omega” male?
LikeLike
well, i think the problem here is… what constitutes “liking?”
I hate coffee, I’ll drink tea, but its not like I need a tea fix all the time or its my choice of beverage. There are a few things that I “like,” or would at least be open to, such as plays (though I really hate musicals). I don’t like sushi, but when my family went to some Sushi place for my sister’s 21st birthday, I dove right in and ate all that was presented to me (except squid.) I don’t object to sushi, but definitely not my first love. And while I find Flight of the Conchords funny, I’d never by their stuff, nor any of those other comedy musicians. Its funny in passing, but thats enough.
Never got the chance to study abroad, time was lacking for my regular studies. And I would never move to Canada.
So, if I adhere to my list of things I actually have an active interest in, then I’m only at 15 out of 77 or however many it was.
I agree that the list has a tendency to point at trendy white city dwellers… and I suppose it can hit Smith Pointers as well.
BTW, Lemmonex, how would I know that she’s wearing a polyester Walmart shirt? True, the jacked teeth might be an… issue. That may stem from the fact that my parents saved up because they thought it important that I had straight teeth… but really, is the walmart shirt like a crappy halter top or something?
LikeLike
MY COMMENT IS AWAITING MODERATION?
yes, because you have been a very naughty girl, and deserve to have your gratifications delayed until the yearning throb for exquisite release leaves you a quivering rumpled mess on the floor.*
*actually, wordpress hates you.
LikeLike
For them, the whole-in-the-wall authentic Cambodian restaurant that has never seen a White face until Lisa (the status seeking individual) showed up is the best place around.
Well, good for the Cambodian restaurant owners that get to make some money then? Unless they would refuse to go back once the place starts filling up with more white people?
I don’t see how this has anything to do with the normal “liberal” people who just want to live in a non-fascist state and not have to contribute to a war that is killing its own citizens. My husband was in the marines but got out in the late 90s.
LikeLike
cobiashi: I just meant a cheap looking shirt…could be polyester, velvet, metallic…whatever. I am showing my own snobbery, but you get the idea. Think of what women wear on Springer.
LikeLike
ah, yeah, the trashy halter top type thing. i know what you mean.
the funny thing is… those crazy “ironic” tshirts or expensive shirts that guys and girls wear oftentimes don’t stand up to any sort of abuse, be it from the clothes washer or regular life.
plenty of those clothing items just crap out way too fast. so maybe those walmart items are a better idea sometimes.
but of course, you need hardy clothing if you are going to get into fisticuffs on Springer… so maybe their just thinking ahead? 😉
LikeLike
I don’t see how this has anything to do with the normal “liberal” people who just want to live in a non-fascist state and not have to contribute to a war that is killing its own citizens.
This post was about status-seaking (i.e. Elitist Liberal) White people who demand that their Cuisine be Authentic.
In my attempt to clarify Conservative from Neo-Conservative you brought up the Iraq War. And, I agreed.
But, the point was, that you can be a Preening, Status-Seeking Elitist Whiterperson Liberal and still be horrified by the Bush Administration.
LikeLike
I scored a bit lower, but here’s the thing.
I’m a dark-skinned man. I drink tea because my people perfected it. I traveled because my family was avoiding La Migra. I eat at ethnic restaurants to be around My Peeps (TM).
Do those count?
LikeLike
But, the point was, that you can be a Preening, Status-Seeking Elitist Whiterperson Liberal and still be horrified by the Bush Administration.
I just took issue with the “always” part in the other post, as in “Anyway, it is ALWAYS about status.” Not for some of us.
LikeLike
Well I guess I shouldn’t say “us” since I’m not white, but my husband is, and I don’t think he holds his beliefs for status. He usually has to hide his beliefs about economics, the federal reserve, etc. because they’re so wacky by mainstream standards.
LikeLike
Well I guess I shouldn’t say “us” since I’m not white, but my husband is, and I don’t think he holds his beliefs for status. He usually has to hide his beliefs about economics, the federal reserve, etc. because they’re so wacky by mainstream standards.
Again, we are not talking about political beliefs based on knowledge of economics or history.
We are talking about people who shop at American Apparel (“Because, uh, you know, I like to buy clothes that weren’t made in sweatshops.”)
We are talking about people who eat at the best Ethiopian restaurant and then are horrified to find out that it is owned by an Indian and prepared by Guatemalans.
We are talking about people who want to raise awareness about the plight of school children in Newark, Camden, Kansas City and Washington DC. (Of course, this “awareness” is meant to increase funding. What makes this funny/pathetic, is that these horrible Inner-City schools are amongst the most expensive in the world. I am not kidding.)
We are talking about people who view every culture as being equal and, especially, an inability to look at any particular culture as being especially productive. (Obviously, some cultures are absolutely superior to others. Just think of all the God-Forsaken Hell Holes that you would never want to call home.)
Well, with all that said, your Husband is prob. more of an analyst if you know what I mean. Not a Status-Whore.
LikeLike
I suppose I’m dating myself, but all this is not covering ground that wasn’t covered a generation ago:
http://www.amazon.com/Yuppie-Handbook-State-Manual-Professionals/dp/067147684X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204241162&sr=1-1
LikeLike
Honestly, do you really think that the Iraq war, which has gone on for longer than either world war, was practical?
That came out of nowhere.
Status is KING. Once people have their basic material needs met, then they crave social validation.
LikeLike
UL: no he doesn’t. but he thinks of himself that way, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise. he could easily turn at least into a beta if he tried, but he doesn’t
roissy: yes!
LikeLike
I am surrounded by WhiterPeople. I guess that’s why I got a 15 out of 56. Maybe I’m getting hipper through osmosis. I’m still waiting for the post on “Independent Book stores” though, or anything on the literary pretensions which so define the class.
LikeLike
UL: no he doesn’t. but he thinks of himself that way, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise. he could easily turn at least into a beta if he tried, but he doesn’t
He might start improving if you were honest with him. Granted, I have no idea if you guys are even friends.
LikeLike
He usually has to hide his beliefs about economics, the federal reserve, etc. because they’re so wacky by mainstream standards.
holy shit, you’re married to ron paul?
LikeLike
Hope, your husband does sound very much like a Ron Paul supporter. Does he complain about fiat money? Is a return to the gold standard going to make our lives better?
LikeLike
Actually he is not a Ron Paul supporter (personally, I dislike Ron Paul). He likes what RP has to say, but his anti-corporate/establishment views don’t align with the hardcore RP crowd. Neither of us is actually active in any political groups, don’t donate to any candidate, and have no connections to any political parties. The views we hold are not outward directed or status oriented.
His concerns are more about fascism, the police state, net neutrality, liberties of citizens (i.e. all amendment rights, of which neither party truly supports) and secret societies (which John Kennedy has openly stated was a threat to democracy — elite groups founded the federal reserve system). Basically he knows what the economists are saying, and the predictions aren’t good.
As far as whether or not the return to the gold standard is going to make our lives better, that’s more of a concern of Ron Paulites who want to tear down every structure of the government. Neither he nor I believe in any kind of free market utopia, since we are in a global economy. On the other hand, the cutting of the federal rates is causing a lot of inflation in the currency, while real wages have not gone up. A destabilized lower class will affect the middle class (and it already has), regardless of your political views.
LikeLike
Uh Johnny Five, Ron Paul is fairly conservative in his views compared to some of the cool conspiracy sites like digg and shoutwire and other digg clones. I suspect Hope’s husband like myself and herself is tech oriented and likes to spend much time reading these quirky news sites (digg and shoutwire) and often sees mention of the federal reserve conspiracy along with other doomsday forecasts. The truth is the economy has taken a turn for the worse, but it isn’t the apocalypse some of our internet gurus are predicting.
LikeLike
The truth is the economy has taken a turn for the worse, but it isn’t the apocalypse some of our internet gurus are predicting.
The Wall Street Journal has this article about the falling dollar, which states, “a perfect storm for dollar desertion may already be brewing.” Apocalypse it might not be, but storms do cause damage. The author of the article is an economist who also wrote the book The Coming Soviet Crash two years before Soviet Union’s dissolution. The modern Middle East fiasco has some roots in WWII and the Cold War.
It would be a terrible mistake to believe that empires and superpowers are eternally infallible.
LikeLike
That is a false comparison Hope. The real reason the Soviet Union fell is a loosening of authoritarian rule, which led to an explosion of nationalism. For years the Soviets also had mass deficits of goods because of the communist system meaning people had to be well connected to black market their goods. The United States is in no way similar, unless you are suggesting that our states are like Baltic republics. The Afghanistan War was far from a main factor, which led to discontent, considering the man other proxy wars that the Soviet Union was fighting, and Russia’s history of warfare in general.
I didn’t say the US was infallible, but it would be a terrible mistake to assume that an accurate historical comparison has ever existed to the present day era of democracies, floating currencies, foreign codependency, and nuclear power.
LikeLike
That is a false comparison Hope.
The comparison is to show that the author has accurately taken various problems that are present and give a rather accurate prediction of outcomes. Notice he didn’t predict the apocalypse for the U.S. that some have suggested, but something more applicable to the current situation.
LikeLike
14 Roissy
“if she’s comfortable getting her hands into the slop, she’ll be open to all kinds of sexual deviancy.”
exactly!! well said
LikeLike
I was web surfing and stumbled across your site. I’m loving this post! I should do a similar check against the lists that I belong to. These lists aren’t so new. They’re just another flavor of the “Top 10 reasons why…” of yesteryear.
LikeLike
Ethiopians have food? Freakin’ late night TV ads lie like dogs.
LikeLike
[…] What’s a holier-than-thou dillweed to do? Buy a Prius! […]
LikeLike
I did call it a year ago. We are in the middle of an economic meltdown. There are comparisons to the Great Depression, job losses going sky high, and two separate 700+ billion dollar stimulus packages within months of each other.
Ah, but the world keeps going.
LikeLike
[…] divorcees, cougars, single moms, urban slut machines, aging yentas, used up playettes, trend whores and Samantha cliches all seeking the gossipy witty banter, emotional frivolity and fashion […]
LikeLike
[…] They were all nice enough people, average age mid 20s to mid 30s, and the very Moloko Plus of SWPL sanctimony. There were three different varieties of veggie burgers on the grill, and someone had brought […]
LikeLike